Mwenya Wayne Mulenga and the business of care
From healthcare services in the USA to a clinic and community partnerships in Zambia, the entrepreneur discusses persistence, affordability and the support behind the work.
Mwenya Wayne Mulenga | Healthcare Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
For Mwenya Wayne Mulenga and his partners, building healthcare services has meant working across borders, navigating setbacks and seeking the support to keep their efforts moving forward.
In The Business of Care, Mulenga joins African Voices Platform’s Tchiyiwe Chihana for a conversation about healthcare access, affordability and the practical contribution of diaspora enterprise. Based in Evanston, Illinois, the healthcare entrepreneur and philanthropist describes work that connects care provision in the United States with a clinic and community partnerships in Zambia.
Together with Future Mpundu and Maureen Shavers, Mulenga co-founded Prestige Wellness Foundation and Prestige Clinic in Zambia. In the United States, he also works alongside business partner Pule Adah Christensen at Heavenly Angels, which provides care and support in people’s homes.
The foundation’s community work includes a partnership with Ivwananji Community School in Misisi on a gender-based violence project. At Matero Aftercare in Lusaka, its work includes medical treatment for residents and donations of food supplies and essential commodities.
These activities bring several aspects of care into the conversation, from clinical services to the everyday material needs of people receiving support. They also make the role of community organisations visible within a story about healthcare enterprise.
Mulenga reflects on the persistence required to advance these efforts and the government and diplomatic support they eventually received across the USA and Zambia. He credits Ambassador Chibamba Kanyama with listening and supporting their work. His account gives space to the relationships that helped progress become possible, alongside the difficulties encountered along the way.
For AVP, the conversation opens a wider discussion about how diaspora experience and resources can work alongside local knowledge and public systems. The questions concern access and affordability, as well as the partnerships needed to sustain services. Mulenga’s account offers a practical starting point for that discussion through the work he and his partners are undertaking.
Support and partnership
Prestige Wellness Foundation welcomes conversations with individuals and organisations able to offer expertise, resources or a partnership.
The foundation has also shared a Christmas fundraising appeal for Matero Aftercare. Readers wishing to contribute can visit its campaign page.
Support the Matero Aftercare Christmas event
Interview: Tchiyiwe Chihana, Managing Director & Co-founder, African Voices Platform. Guest: Mwenya Wayne Mulenga, Healthcare Entrepreneur | Philanthropist, Evanston, Illinois, USA. Images supplied by Heavenly Angels. An African Voices Platform production.
